| Southern Thailand October 2006 |
| Krabi |
| Ko Phi Phi |
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| Ko Lanta |
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| Getting a boat from the mainland to Ko Lanta - one of my favorite holiday spots in Thailand. |
| Seaside pool on Klong Nin beach, southern Ko Lanta |
| The hard life at Klong Jak beach, southern Ko Lanta |
| Klong Jak beach - almost no one around |
| On a forest walk where everything grows bigger. |
| On a scuba diving trip to "Ko Ha" ("five islands") |
| Ko Lanta has more than its share of beautiful sunsets. |
| A rare shot of the photographer |
| This is what most people come here to do - nothing. |
| Just before a quick monsoon rain - moody skies. |
| One of the many dive boats returning from a day out. |
| Tee in front of our bungalow, with the beach just behind. One of my favorite places on earth. |
| Sleepy scenery on Ao Phra Ae beach - what Jimmy Buffet was singing about in quite a few songs. |
| This is Klong Nin beach, in front of "Nice Beach" bungalows. I think it is one of the nicest pieces of sand anywhere. If this was California there would be at least one Taco Bell and a shopping center. Here it is just sand and a few playing children. Bliss. |
| At the very bottom of Ko Lanta is Ao Mai Phai (bamboo beach) and a place called "The Last Beach". Here you will see some of the most basic bungalows anywhere. And it's cheap. |
| Furry friend for sunset on Klong Jak beach. Thanks kitty for cooperating on this photo shoot. |
| The two-hour boat ride from Ko Lanta to Ko Phi Phi. This is the Ton Sai port where most boats arrive. |
| Here's the beachfront pool at Phi Phi Viewpoint Resort. We splashed out for a beachfront bungalow this time. Cheaper season price - $US50/night, and it goes up to $130-150 around Christmas. |
| Phi Phi was hit very hard by the December 2004 tsunami, and reconstruction has been underway since then. So aside from the beautiful beaches and big resorts, there are big piles of waste material still to be cleared. There is also a memorial to the people lost in the tsunami. |
| Extremely sad what happened here. It's odd to be in such a beautiful place, knowing it was all wiped clean by the ocean not so long ago. |
| On a snorkelling day-trip around the island... |
| Colorful arrival at Bamboo Island, north of Phi Phi. For a heavily-visited beach it still has excellent coral and fish populations and beautiful clear water. |
| The "Viking Cave" is home to groups of "Chaolay" (sea gypsies) |
| This is Maya Bay on Phi Phi Lei, which was made famous in the film version of "The Beach". Despite the pristine appearance, it has been really hit with tourist numbers on day trips (like ours). |
| Here are a few scenes from the "viewpoint" looking over Phi Phi. It's easy to see the destruction of the tsunami and efforts to rebuild the islands tourist infrastructure (and what a beautiful island it is/could still be). |
| New bungalows under construction near Railay West beach in Krabi Province. It's non-stop building in this otherwise beautiful area. |
| The "less beautiful" Railay East beach, which is just a mud flat during low tide. The cheaper places to stay are here. |
| Well-fed macaques (monkeys) like to hang around the entrance to Ao Phra Nang beach. |
| Human "monkeys" are drawn here for rock climbing. Railay is world famous for this activity. |
| The Muslim village on Ko Panyi and nearby "James Bond Island", which appeared in the movie "The Man With the Golden Gun". There were at last count 147,000 Japanese tourists there. I chased them away long enough for a few pictures. Anyway I had to see it just once. |
| Time to go home. Flight from Krabi back to Chiang Mai. |
| Multitudes of fish nibbled our feet at Bamboo Island |
| ...but you can't deny that it is beautiful. |
| The beachfront at Loh Dalam. Very nice, especially at high tide, but always enjoyable and a good base for kayak adventures. |
| Our excellent bungalow at Phi Phi Viewpoint. |
| We were hit by a thunderstorm in the late afternoon, at the end of our snorkelling trip. One big rain in two weeks time was actually quite a welcome cool-down. |